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1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the provision of telecommunication services to the deaf and hearing impaired. More particularly, the invention is related to a call center for handling TTY calls for the deaf and hearing impaired. Still more particularly, this invention is related to providing an identification of a calling party to a called party that is hearing impaired.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ensure that telecommunication services are provided to the hearing and speech impaired. Telecommunication Relay Services (TRS) are used provide the functional equivalent of telecommunication services to the hearing and speech impaired. TRS have been available on a nationwide basis since 1983.
TRS operates in the following manner. A calling party for this system may be as a hearing or speech impaired person or a person wishing to talk to the hearing or speech impaired. The calling party has a TDD/TYY or other device, such as a personal computer, which is a device for transmitting and receiving typed messages. The calling party places a call by dialing a local toll free number. The call is extended to a communication assistant terminal in the call center. The call is a modern connection between the calling party and the communication assistant terminal. The calling party then types a telephone number that the calling party wishes to call. A call is then placed by the communication assistant to the telephone number. When a call is established with a party at the desired telephone number, the calling assistant relays the messages between the calling party and the called party. The calling party types in messages that are read by the calling assistant to the called party. The called party speaks to the calling assistant, who types in the called party""s message. This operation is performed in an opposite manner when a person is calling a hearing or speech impaired person.
The local toll free number called by a party extends the call to a call center that provides TRS. In a conventional call center, a switching system is connected to a modem in each of terminals and to a call controller. One type of switching system typically used in a call center is a Rockwell Galaxy ACD switch. The call controller is a system having a processing unit and associated memory.
The call controller determines which terminal is available to handle a call. When the switching system receives a request for a call set-up, the switching system transmits a request to the call controller for an available terminal. The call controller responds to the Mu switching system by transmitting an identity of an available terminal. The switching system then extends the call to the identified terminal.
Each terminal includes a computer system that can convert signals received via modem into a text message that is displayed upon a screen. Each terminal also has a telephone station connected to the switching system to receive and to place voice telephonic calls. The communication assistant can enter text into the computer system via a keyboard. The computer system converts the entered text into text messages transmitted to a calling party over the connection established by the modem. The computer is also connected to a network. When a call is completed to a terminal, a Call Detail Record (CDR) is generated by the computer system. The call detail record includes information pertaining to the length of the call. The CDR is then stored by computer system.
A billing system is then connected to each terminal via the network. Periodically, each computer system transmits stored CDRs to a billing system for processing. The billing system then uses the CDRs to generate billing.
It is a problem that there is currently no way of sending a caller identification though the call center to a called party. Currently, when a called party receives a call from a call center providing TRS, the caller identification transmitted to the calling party either includes the identification of the call center or no identification whatsoever. This prevents the called party from knowing the identity of the calling party. Therefore, telephone service for the speech and hearing impaired is not functionally equivalent to that of the hearing users.
The above and other problems are solved and an advance in the art is made by a call center of this invention. A first advantage of this invention is that a called party having the proper equipment can determine the identity of the calling party before answering a call. A second advantage of this invention is that identification can be used to charge calling parties for some services, such as directory information, instead of the provider bearing the cost. These and other advantages are apparent in the description given below.
The call center of this invention includes a switching system, terminals connected to the switching system, and a call controller connected to the terminals via a network and connected to the switching system via a data link. The call center operates in the following manner to provide a called party an identification of a calling party for calls relayed by the call center.
First, a switching system receives a first call set-up message requesting that an incoming call be connected to a terminal in the call center. The incoming call is extended by the switching system to a terminal in the call center. Then, the switching system receives a request from the terminal to set-up an outgoing call to a called party. The switching system generates a second call set-up message including an identification of the calling party and transmits the second call set-up message to the called party.
In order to generate the second call set-up message, the switching system transmits a request for the identity of the calling party. The request is transmitted either to the call controller via a data link or to the terminal via out of band signals over the connection. The switching system then receives a response to the request that includes the identity of the calling party.
In an embodiment where the request for the calling party identification is transmitted to a call controller, the call controller transmits an identification request to the terminal to get the identification of the calling party. The terminal generates an identification response that includes the identification of the calling party and transmits the response to the call controller. The call controller receives the identification response from the terminal. A response including the identification of the calling party is then generated and transmitted to the switching system.